Synopsis

Family is not always defined by blood. It’s defined by those who make us whole—those who make us who we are.

And here, at the end, Bear and Otter will be tested like they’ve never been before.

There’s a knock at the door from a little girl who has nowhere else to go.

There’s a phone ringing, bringing news they do not expect.

There’s a brother returning home after learning how to stand on his own.

As these moments converge, all of their lives will change forever.

Beginning in Bear, Otter, and the Kid and continuing in Who We Are and The Art of Breathing, TJ Klune has told a saga of family and brotherhood, of love and sacrifice. In this final chapter, the events of the past pave the long and winding road toward a future no one could have imagined.

Jane’s Review

This is the eagerly anticipated fourth and final book in the Bear, Otter and the Kid Chronicles. TJ told us to trust him that they would get the ending they deserved and he didn't disappoint. This book was everything I hoped for and a little more, actually. They definitely got the ending I so desperately wished for them all. You know when you take in a deep breath and then breathe out a long, deep, happy, contented sigh. That was this book for me, one long, deep, happy, contented sigh. I was left with a very happy heart. If you're a fan of this series you are just going to adore this book and if you're new to this series then I am jealous of you just discovering this and reading it fresh for the first time.

TJ surprised me with the first third of this book, I was fully expecting to pick up right where we left off at the end of The Art of Breathing but we don't. We get a retrospective look back on the journey they've all been on and we get a lot of filling in the gaps and seeing things from different perspectives, especially from Bear’s. We get a much greater understanding of the things that happened, especially in The Art of Breathing, from looking at it from Bear’s point of view. It also serves as a great reminder of just how far they've all come. From being abandoned by their mother Julie McKenna, left in the shitty apartment with the splintered steps just trying to survive, where the Kid needed the bathtub when the earthquakes were too much. To Bear being married to Otter and living in the green monstrosity, Ty ‘inevitably’ together with Dom and all surrounded by the family who made them who they are.

We also get to see them move forward on this long and winding road of life with all of its twists and turns. We see more of Izzie, the sister that landed at the green monstrosity and how she fits into their lives. We see what happens after the phone call that changed things for them. All the while, I loved seeing the interactions and conversations between Bear and Otter. They are funny, sometimes weird, hot and sexy and always heart warming. Their love for each other still radiates off the page and melts me. We have some of the best Bear monologues yet with his brain sparking off at tangents only he can reach. His thought processes are so uniquely Bear, only he could extrapolate from sitting down for a nice meal prepared by Otter that it's all about them needing to have kinky sex involving dirty traffic cones up his ass and not liking seesaws with dildos attached. Hilarious! The hilarity continues throughout the book, the puns and dad jokes abound and Creed still makes me really laugh with his take on things. It's great to see how things are going for Anna, Creed and JJ, likewise for Ty, Dom and Ben.

Whilst it's sad to say goodbye, this is a very fitting ending to the journey that we've all been on, and without being sycophantic, I think it's a credit to TJ’s writing that we all love these characters so much and that they will stay with us always (thinking of the greatly missed Mrs. Paquinn). This saga of family and brotherhood, of love and loss, of still breathing and moving on has touched my heart, made me laugh, cry tears of joy and have wookie cry face. It's a journey I will never forget.

Purchase Links

Bear, Otter and the Kid Chronicles

Bear, Otter and the Kid (Book 1)

Three years ago, Bear McKenna’s mother took off for parts unknown with her new boyfriend, leaving Bear to raise his six-year-old brother Tyson, aka the Kid. Somehow they’ve muddled through, but since he’s totally devoted to the Kid, Bear isn’t actually doing much living—with a few exceptions, he’s retreated from the world, and he’s mostly okay with that. Until Otter comes home.Otter is Bear’s best friend’s older brother, and as they’ve done for their whole lives, Bear and Otter crash and collide in ways neither expect. This time, though, there’s nowhere to run from the depth of emotion between them. Bear still believes his place is as the Kid’s guardian, but he can’t help thinking there could be something more for him in the world... something or someone.

Sequel to Bear, Otter, and the KidBear, Otter, and the Kid survived last summer with their hearts and souls intact. They’ve moved into the Green Monstrosity, and Bear is finally able to admit his love for the man who saved him from himself.But that's not the end of their story. How could it be?The boys find that life doesn’t stop just because they got their happily ever after. There’s still the custody battle for the Kid. The return of Otter’s parents. A first trip to a gay bar. The Kid goes to therapy, and Mrs. Paquinn decides that Bigfoot is real. Anna and Creed do… well, whatever it is Anna and Creed do. There are newfound jealousies, the return of old enemies, bad poetry, and misanthropic seagulls. And through it all, Bear struggles to understand his mother’s abandonment of him and his brother, only to delve deeper into their shared past. What he finds there will alter their lives forever and help him realize what it'll take to become who they're supposed to be.Family is not always defined by blood. It’s defined by those who make us whole—those who make us who we are.

Sequel to Who We AreTyson Thompson graduated high school at sixteen and left the town of Seafare, Oregon, bound for what he assumed would be bigger and better things. He soon found out the real world has teeth, and he returns to the coast with four years of failure, addiction, and a diagnosis of panic disorder trailing behind him. His brother, Bear, and his brother's husband, Otter, believe coming home is exactly what Tyson needs to find himself again. Surrounded by family in the Green Monstrosity, Tyson attempts to put the pieces of his broken life back together.But shortly after he arrives home, Tyson comes face to face with inevitability in the form of his childhood friend and first love, Dominic Miller, who he hasn't seen since the day he left Seafare. As their paths cross, old wounds reopen, new secrets are revealed, and Tyson discovers there is more to his own story than he was told all those years ago.In a sea of familiar faces, new friends, and the memories of a mother's devastating choice, Tyson will learn that in order to have any hope for a future, he must fight the ghosts of his past.

Meet TJ Klune

When TJ Klune was eight, he picked up a pen and paper and began to write his first story (which turned out to be his own sweeping epic version of the video game Super Metroid—he didn’t think the game ended very well and wanted to offer his own take on it. He never heard back from the video game company, much to his chagrin). Now, over two decades later, the cast of characters in his head have only gotten louder. But that’s okay, because he’s recently become a full-time writer, and can give them the time they deserve.Since being published, TJ has won the Lambda Literary Award for Best Gay Romance, fought off three lions that threatened to attack him and his village, and was chosen by Amazon as having written one of the best GLBT books of 2011.And one of those things isn’t true.(It’s the lion thing. The lion thing isn’t true.)